Off-topic chat thread

[R.I.D.E.]

Anyone think any of these cars will be on the road in 15 years? Price a windshield replacement on the new Civic. Oldest nephew has had 3 replaced in a year in his turbo 2017 Civic.

$4500.

First year of the Accord you could buy one for less than that.

A few years ago you could get almost any windshield replaced for $100 around here.

Expect comprehensive premiums to skyrocket.

[Draigflag]

Don't think there's anything special about the windshield on the Civic, sounds like insurance fraud to me, company claiming more than its value and pocketing the difference?

My insurance excess is usually around £70 if I need a replacement, only happened once in 13 years so far.

[JockoT]

Replacement windscreens are normally manufactured by a third party. When a new car is released there are no third party parts so you end up paying the manufacturers price. Once there is a large enough market for the third party to tool up, the parts become available at the reasonable prices. And then Honda will have to drop their prices to nearer the third party prices.

[R.I.D.E.]

The windshield glass alone was $1100 and it is special with receptors for some of the collision avoidance and lane change warning systems.

Any fraud would involve the selling dealership (who did the repair all 3 times), corporate Honda, and a huge national Insurance company, with hundreds of attorneys on retainer. Chances of that, non existant.

Honda has a monopoly on the supply chain as was posted above and you pay the price until the technology enters the aftermarket.

Due diligence was missing in one prior (to this) post, I'll try to ignore it in the future, but fair warning, insurance companies are in the business of not loosing money on risk taking. Just as the house wins with gamblers with time and numbers, the insurance companies will increase comprehensive premiums for tech that has exorbitant costs to repair.

Largest causative factor, road repirs on route 28 west of DC. He now takes another route to work.

[Draigflag]

Insurance premiums are always rising, cars are bigger than they were, and more abundant, and more expensive. Alot of new cats have the cameras and adaptive cruise control sensors located at the very front (or rear) as well as parking sensors, the most likely area to be involved in a collision.

I remember a story about a Nissan gtr, gently nudged a tow bar of a parked car and caused a thumb sized dent in the bumper. Thing is, it triggered the pedestrian saftey mechanism where the bonnet springs up to cushion them if they are struck, and protect them. Cost £11,000 to repair what should have been just a scratch. There are downsides to saftey equipment, but overall it's for the greater good!

[Jcp385]

Originally Posted by Draigflag

There are downsides to saftey equipment, but overall it's for the greater good!

I'd question that...

[LDB]

The Nanny State.

[luv2spd]

I agree that some safety stuff in new cars is just gimmick for people to buy the cars. "The new Chevy Cruze has more than 10 air bags." Please, I only need one that works properly and doesn't turn into shrapnel after 5 years. If this was me in this video, the conversation with OnStar would have been a lot different.

OnStar: what's you emergency? Our data indicates your air bags went off.
Me: yeah. I'm on a road course and I want you to tell the engineer it is not cool putting air bags designed for a Chevy Cruze into a Camaro without any modifications to the parameters. The Camaro is a sports car and it will be tracked, the air bags going off randomly is not f%^&#$* acceptable!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpL4VwhYSE8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7-osPfx7Vo

[Draigflag]

How annoying! Is that related to the recent mass recall on many US made cars due to the random deployment of airbags?

[trollbait]

The big air bag recall involves Takata made ones. They used a propellant that degrades over time, mainly in warm and humid environments. Which could lead to it just spontaneously igniting.

I think the company has filed for bankruptcy over the recall.